Annual

The census is placed under State responsibility. The communes or the Public inter-municipal cooperation establishment prepare and conduct the census surveys and therefore receive a financial allowance from the State.

INSEE's mission is to organise the collection of the information and ensure the quality of the information collected. It gathers the information collected, processes the questionnaires and disseminates the results.

Since 2015, it is possible to be enumerated by internet: an enumerator recruited by the municipality or the Public inter-municipal cooperation establishment gives residents a notice with individual access codes. People can then fill in the online questionnaire. Then, the questionnaire is transmitted directly to the INSEE. The answer on paper questionnaire remains possible for people who can not answer through the internet. The enumerator deposits questionnaires and take them back once they've been filled.

The data is collected in January and February (February and March in Reunion Island). Census surveys are annual.

The census provides every year the results from the information collected during the five most recent annual surveys.

Individual

In this rolling census, every municipalities under the threshold of 10 000 inhabitants is surveyed once within a 5-year period.

Municipalities with 10,000 inhabitants or more conduct every year a sample survey with a sample of housing representing 8% of their population.

Thus, every year, the annual survey constitutes a sample of 14% of the total population living in France.

Over a 5-year period, all the inhabitants of municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants and 40% of the population of municipalities with 10,000 inhabitants or more have been taken into account in the census.